Delamothe and Smith are right to promote open access publishing.
Availability of specialist journals in full text on the internet has
already changed the way in which I try to keep abreast of developments in
my specialty. But I suspect that I am not alone in reading my BMJ and
other general medical journals in a different way. These are browsed, read
from the back, left around the house, picked up, put down, and digested in
a piecemeal way. Browsing is hindered, not helped, by an electronic
format. I will miss it and my appreciation of medicine outside of my own
specialty will be poorer.
Rapid Response:
An end to browsing?
Delamothe and Smith are right to promote open access publishing.
Availability of specialist journals in full text on the internet has
already changed the way in which I try to keep abreast of developments in
my specialty. But I suspect that I am not alone in reading my BMJ and
other general medical journals in a different way. These are browsed, read
from the back, left around the house, picked up, put down, and digested in
a piecemeal way. Browsing is hindered, not helped, by an electronic
format. I will miss it and my appreciation of medicine outside of my own
specialty will be poorer.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests